


After 02x10 (the Runway Job)

by PseudoLeigha



Series: (More) 2AM Conversations [24]
Category: Leverage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 12:47:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6566836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PseudoLeigha/pseuds/PseudoLeigha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hardison and Eliot talk about Eliot's sexuality.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After 02x10 (the Runway Job)

**Author's Note:**

> This was the worst chat to write so far, I think, partly because I wanted to address the fact that Eliot was acting kind of off all episode… but I couldn't reconcile that off-ness with my portrayal of him thusfar. Having writer's block on the story you work on to counter writer's block is the WORST. But whatever. It's done, now.
> 
> Let me know whether the boys still seem on-point here, and if not, how.

Eliot’s ears twitched as he fiddled with Nate’s Tivo. He thought he had set it up to record the game before he went to the gym, but maybe not. The same sound came to him again, a few seconds later – a half-suppressed snort of a giggle, originating with the hacker at the kitchen table. He stood up quickly and turned on his heel, ready to tell the younger man off for making light of his technological incompetence. If he had wanted the geek’s input, he would have asked him to set the damn thing up in the first place! Sure enough, Hardison was shooting darting glances in his direction, and failing miserably as he tried not to smirk.

“What are _you_ lookin’ at?” Eliot growled.

“Uh, nothin’ man. Nothin’. Just, ah, finishin’ up some of the loose ends on the sweathouse job.” He tried in vain to hide the screens of the two laptops he had set up, without actually closing the programs that were running. Eliot peered over his shoulder, and snorted when he saw that the ‘loose end’ in question appeared to be ‘Julian,’ the makeup-wearing designer’s assistant Eliot had had to portray for the con, specifically wiping his face from the thousands of photos and video frames that had been taken at Fashion Week and subsequently uploaded to the internet.

“You’d better not be thinkin’ t’save any of those pictures,” he grumbled. ‘Julian’ had not been his favorite alias. Give him a blue collar background – fine. Military, special forces, FBI – great. He could even do a decent academic if need be, but that high-maintenance, metrosexual BS had been far outside his comfort zone.

The utterly guilty look on the hacker’s face said he probably already had, despite his quick, “No, ‘course not.” For a thief and a wannabe grifter, Hardison really was a shit liar. “Besides,” he added too-quickly, changing the subject, “I’m surprised it bothers you.”

“What bothers me?”

“Actin’, you know, kinda gay.”

Eliot almost laughed. “Why d’you think that’d bother me? You think I’m some sorta homophobe?”

“That’s the thing – I thought it _wouldn’_. Figured you’d be, y’know, secure in your masculinity an’ all that. But then you spent the whole job bein’ all… manly man, an’ tryin’a pick up models an’ shit.”

At Hardison’s blatant attempt to not sound like some sort of pop-psychology moron, Eliot really did laugh. “Secure in my masculinity? Who really talks like that, Hardison?”

“People! Some people. Well, someone has to, righ’?”

“Yeah… right…”

“Naw, man – it’s like this, I mean –”

“Hardison, just _stop talking_ ,” Eliot suggested, stopping the younger man before he could dig himself an even bigger hole. He moved into the kitchen to check whether he needed to go shopping again before the next time he cooked the team dinner. Probably. Nate never did himself. He’d probably starve if Eliot didn’t leave him leftovers. Hardison and Parker would live off junk food and whatever they could steal, respectively, and Sophie would – he stopped his mental rant at Sophie, still more than a little upset with her for running off to ‘find herself’ like some hippy college student.

Thankfully, Hardison was talking again. “Like that! You like, cook an’ I _know_ you know about clothes an’ stuff – you were on coms the whole time y’all were sneakin’ back inna that show.”

The older man growled. “So what, Hardison?”

“So why you actin’ all ashamed of knowin’ that stuff?”

Eliot snorted. “I’m not ashamed to know any of that – I dated a couple models, a fashion student – you pick things up.” That he was damn proud of his cooking skills was, or _should be_ , obvious, and he didn’t particularly want to share the circumstances of his learning with the younger man. He wouldn’t understand.

“So what was _with_ you? The whole job you were just –”

“Horny as fuck, surrounded by gorgeous women gettin’ dressed and undressed in front a’ me? Are you seriously tellin’ me you wouldn’t’ve hit on any of them?”

“Not if I was supposed to be playin’ a gay designer’s PA!”

Eliot glared at him. “No one ever said my character was gay, Hardison.” Truth be told, he’d only been acting _slightly_ more feminine than the hacker. If he didn’t let it go, Eliot was going to have to bring up where he’d gotten his inspiration for the ‘Seagal Scarf.’ “Why do you even _care_?”

There was a definite flush to the younger man’s face as he sputtered an incoherent defense. _Is Hardison gay?_ Eliot wondered, though he dismissed the thought immediately. He was far too obviously interested in Parker. _Bi, then?_ He was the one who had teased Eliot first about the makeup and the leather pants…

Eliot smirked, moving inside the taller man’s guard and personal space. “Ever heard the term _metrosexual_?” he asked. “There’s a difference b’tween how you act an’ who you sleep with.”

“What are you tryin’a say, Eliot?” Hardison asked, swallowing hard.

Eliot suppressed a triumphant smirk. _Yep, still got it._ “What do you think I’m tryin’a say, Hardison?” he asked gruffly.

“Wait – are you?”

 _No, I’d bet anything that you are,_ Eliot thought. He had, in fact, had sex with men on occasion – the Service did kind of limit the options, and when you’re in life-or-death situations with a man, one thing can lead to another – but he didn’t think it mattered enough to put a label on it. Aloud he said, “I don’t see as how that’s any’a your business, Hardison,” backing off with his friendliest grin, curious as to whether the younger man had enough balls to make a move. “It’s called Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell for a reason.”

Hardison squinted at him for a long moment, as though trying to read his mind through force of will, then gave a rather nervous-sounding laugh. “You had me goin’ there for a secon’, man.” He beat a hasty, blushing retreat to his computers. _Apparently not_. Eliot finally allowed himself that smirk as he let himself out of the apartment.

 _Poor kid_ , he thought as he made his way to his truck, still smiling. _Bad enough he’s fallin’ for Parker. I really shouldn’t tease him like that_.

Because there was no way he would ever sleep with Hardison. If the kid had made a move back, it might have been a different story, but he had only proved himself to be appallingly young, and reminded Eliot that he was so innocent it hurt to talk to him sometimes. Hardison would be the kind of guy who wanted dates and hand holding and a real _relationship_ , when the whole world knew Eliot Spencer was the one-night rodeo sort. Plus he was also willing to bet that the geek, with his computers and video-games, was a virgin, and Eliot really, truly wasn’t into being his first. Between that and the fact that they worked together, sex would only make things impossibly awkward between them.

But he couldn’t deny the younger man’s interest _was_ very flattering.

**Author's Note:**

> Kim, feel free to consider this more pre-ot3. It's a long series, so there's plenty of time for Eliot to change his mind about commitment, and for Hardison to grow up a bit. Finally getting into a relationship with Parker will help with that, I suspect.


End file.
